Black Mirror, season 4(getable?)
Netflix's Black Mirror has easily become one of the most successful and highly anticipated shows on its native network. Fans all around the world spend countless hours on forums trying to decipher hidden meanings in each episode, find links to other BM universes, and eventually just gush at the intricacies and pure excitement found in each episode. But this is not the purpose of this piece. Having watched season 4, I found that the season was not quite up to par with the rest, but overall still enjoyable. Some episodes left me speechless, and in a good way, while others were somewhat lackluster compared to previous episodes. Overall, I thought this season was great, it met my expectations. It's visually stunning, acted phenomenally, and provides thought-provoking, meaningful, and relevant concepts. In the first episode, USS Callister, I was caught a bit off guard. I could not have expected how imaginative this episode is, and I'm glad they explored the theme of virtual reality universes. However I felt the story had many plot holes and I wish it was taken in a different direction. ArkAngel was my favorite. It's a beautiful and very human episode that does a fantastic job exploring the struggle of parenting and childhood development in the age of technology. Admittedly not the most daring or unpredictable, but that isn't necessary to a fantastic episode. Crocodile was a very powerful and engrossing episode. I love how dark it is; it felt like the writers were brave enough to take risks. My criticism is that the technology central to the episode could have been explored more or played more of a role. Hang the DJ was also one of my favorites. Black Mirror has a tendency towards doom and gloom. And while still reminding us from time to time of that theme, this one gave some hope to the viewers. Charlie Booker, the writer of Black Mirror, stated that this was actually done on purpose, for reasons stated here. Metalhead, despite some negative feedback, I found terrific and terrifying. I agree that a longer run time and more world building would have made this episode better, but that wasn't the intention. I don't mind that there was no sort of philosophical danger. Black Museum was deliciously dark, clever, and explored some very interesting technology. I personally found it hard to follow towards the end and like some of the technology was unrealistic. Overall, I was generally impressed with the season. While not quite as shocking as the first seasons, that was to be expected. Seasoned viewers need to realize that our experience of watching Black Mirror now will never be what it was in the first seasons. The stories are no worse or more predictable than they ever were. We have just come to understand the show and therefore we are harder to surprise and impress. Overall, I would put the season in Good Good, with a very high quality rating and a mid tier enjoyment rating.
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